- That I live in a community which hardly batted an eye when my child arrived at school dressed as the girl she feels she is.
- My two children who are, at any given moment, wonderful, horrible, agreeable, delightful, funny, obnoxious, rude, insightful, dense, adorable, ridiculous, wonderful, impossible and inspiring (among other things).
- Being able to fit into (most of) my jeans, despite going to the gym too little and Fives Guys too much.
- My rabidly supportive, protective and loving brothers. And Ellie. Definitely Ellie.
- For Awapui which yields the same results as Keratin at a seventieth of the price.
- My mother who is the poster child for fiercely independent women.
- To my readers for encouraging, supporting and following me.
- Psychopharmacology.
- Sweatpants.
- Harrison’s buds returning home from school and coming to hang out at the house before he has even left campus. Love those boys.
- BTS for being BTS.
- Hitting my ninth anniversary of kicking cancer’s ass.
- My discovery of the joys of hot tea with almond milk and agave. Soothes the soul.
- Learning from my dad to never lose my sense of humor.
- Manicures and being wise enough to know just how far they go in nudging my happiness factor northward.
- Boots. Tall boots, short boots, cowboy boots, leather boots, suede boots, high heeled, flat, combat. Lots and lots of boots.
- Ditto bracelets.
- Wonderful memories of a wonderful father.
- Facebook: for bringing people from past lives back into this one.
- The fantastic people I am lucky enough to work with every day – go TCS!
- MFKG, MLBS, RBDR, JELW: smooches.
- Navs. I’d be lost without ‘em.
- Words with Friends: in a matter of moments I can go from feeling like a huge moron to the smartest person on the planet.
- Texting. Love texting.
- Caller I.D. (see #24)
- Mascara.
- My new-found ability to limit my Diet Coke intake to the point that I will not suffer the withdrawal symptoms of last year. It was ugly.
- Being tall enough to play with a few pounds. (see #3)
- Living in a school district that made Jessie’s transition, well, easy.
- Garnet yams. Not your average sweet potato.
- 90 minute massages.
- The fact that I yell so infrequently that when I do, I am heard.
- The number of Harrison’s peeps who have friended (and more to the point, not de-friended) me on Facebook.
- Frozen bananas at the ready whenever the need to make a smoothie arises.
- Health insurance.
- My mother’s artistic talents skipping me, but landing with Jess.
- Central air. Life changing.
- Target’s Deep Conditioning Cocoa Butter Hand Lotion. Try it.
- Impulse control. (See #2)
- Macoun apples smeared with Whole Foods freshly ground honey peanut butter.
- Knowing that, despite some bumps in the road, I have a lot to be grateful for.
- Google. Most of the time. Sometimes it freaks me out.
- Tuesday nights.
- My left-handedness. It is the one and only thing that both my children inherited from me.
- Scarves.
- The versatility of my hair – one never knows if it will be long, short, blonde, brown, straight or curly. Keep ‘em guessing.
- Cell phone cameras.
- Pretzel M&Ms. Best invention ever. (Worst invention ever? Coconut and/or Candy Corn M&Ms)
- My new vacuum cleaner. And the person who got it for me.
- The love, support, empathy, compassion and encouragement of anybody reading this.
All the best wishes for a Happy Thanksgiving, a Happy Hannuka, a Merry Christmas and all good things in 2014.
Oh, and I am grateful for Dr. Suess — he had it going on.